How You Remind Me
by Agatha-Pagatha
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia struggle as and influx of hollows keeps them busy. Perhaps life would be easier if they didn’t have to hide Rukia… but what could be an excuse for her constant presence?... :P


**How you remind me**

**I love this song, if you can download it you should. It's by Incubus (my favourite band)**

**IchigoxRukia**

**M for language.**

**Summery: Ichigo and Rukia struggle as and influx of hollows keep them busy. Perhaps life would be easier if they didn't have to hide Rukia… but what could be an excuse for her constant presence?... :P**

**"Dig" By Incubus**

We all have a weakness  
But some of ours are easier to identify.  
Look me in the eye  
And ask for forgiveness;  
We'll make a pact to never speak that word again  
Yes you are my friend.  
We all have something that digs at us,  
At least we dig each other  
So when weakness turns my ego up  
I know you'll count on the me from yesterday  
If I turn into another  
Dig me up from under what is covering  
The better part of me  
Sing this song  
Remind me that we'll always have each other  
When everything else is gone.  
We all have a sickness  
That cleverly attaches and multiplies  
No matter how hard we try.  
We all have someone that digs at us,  
At least we dig each other  
So when sickness turns my ego up  
I know you'll act as a clever medicine.  
If I turn into another  
Dig me up from under what is covering  
The better part of me.  
Sing this song  
Remind me that we'll always have each other  
When everything else is gone.  
Oh each other...  
When everything  
Else is gone.

'Was it something I said?' Ichigo stated with an ambiguous look.

'No' she said

'Fine' Ichigo swung around returning to his book.

'What's wrong with you?' she shouted 'You have two sisters but you understand women the least of any man I've ever met!'

'What did I do now?' said Ichigo bewildered.

'Whatever' she replied and walked out entirely unsatisfied with the fact that Ichigo was still un-bruised.

'_Jesus Christ. What a dumbass' _She thought walking away.

When she walked back into Ichigo's room over an hour later she was surprised to see him in exactly the same position as when she left.

'Why you back so soon?' asked Ichigo

'Oh I'm sorry, would you like me to come back later?' Rukia said in a heavily sarcastic tone.

'You just usually stay out later, jeez' said Ichigo followed by a pause 'why _are_ you back then'

'Just felt like hanging out with someone that pisses me off!' shouted Rukia, before flopping onto the bed, exhausted from all the anger generated by the orange headed boy. 'Can I ask you a favour?'

-Pause-

-Pause-

'Hey! Ichigo!' shouted Rukia in Ichigo's ear.

'What!' he shouted back.

'D-I-D Y-O-U H-E-A-R M-E?' Rukia spoke as if she was talking to a mentally handicapped boy, though she basically was.

'No! What!?' Ichigo was getting irritated.

'Can I ask you a favour?' she said calmly.

'Yes, what is it Rukia?' he said impatiently. Ichigo had heard her the first time; but he was busy thinking about what it could be that he forgot to reply. He could feel Rukia's reatsu increasing and becoming more and more unstable.

_Flashback_

Dragging themselves through the window they flopped onto Ichigo's bed head-first. It had been a long couple of days, an influx of hollows had kept Ichigo and Rukia busy day and night.

'Mhfl therfh hftui hauis mhfle' Ichigo mumbled to Rukia, his head buried into a pillow.

'wfhaht?' (Translating to 'what?') Rukia mumbled back.

With great difficulty, and many groggy moans, Ichigo sat up. 'I said I'm gonna shower, u wana bath tonight or tomorrow?

'Um tonight'

'Okey' he replied, and with that they both fell asleep.

Early that morning Ichigo woke up freezing, just as he was about to get under the blankets for warmth he noticed Rukia next to him. After a momentary shock he remembered why she was there. Lying there looking at her he noticed she was shivering. He slowly got out of bed and gently rolled Rukia to where he had been lying. He then opened the blankets where she had been lying and slowly rolled her over again covering her with the blanket.

Satisfied with the job he had done he had a shower, letting his body be soothed by the hot water he reflected on the last week of fighting, so many hollows, so many. Just as they'd think they where in the clear for the day another would show up. This left next to no time for trivial things such as homework, sleeping, eating and bathing. Rukia had suggested they take shifts to give each other a rest, but he rejected that idea quickly knowing he could never rest if she was fighting hollows out there alone.

Finishing his shower he got changed and felt a huge wave of exhaustion hit him again. He walked back into his room only to notice Rukia had moved to the middle of the bed.

'The joy' he commented sarcastically to himself before sliding in next to her making fully sure they weren't touching. He quickly fell asleep, his last thought- 'Thank God it's Saturday tomorrow...'

They both woke up late, at one in the afternoon the next day.

'Ahhhh, best nights sleep of my life' Rukia awoke mumbling, resisting the need to get up. Suddenly her phone started beeping. She jumped up and kicked Ichigo in the face causing him to fly out of the bed.

'What the hell Rukia!' Ichigo yelled

'Look!' she pointed to the screen where not one but five large hollows where clearly visible.

'Oh crap!' Ichigo yelled as he changed into a shinigami, grabbing Rukia who was already in shinigami form and jumping out of the window. In no time they had arrived at where the dots where on the phone, they looked around puzzled. No sight of them. Rukia looked back at the phone which was suddenly totally clear.

'Ichigo its clear, look, they're gone!'

'That's weird... well should we head back then?' Ichigo said rubbing his head, which still hurt from being hit against the wall.

'Um, ya I guess so' replied Rukia unsure.

When they arrive home Rukia declares loudly 'I need a bath!' walking towards the bathroom she stopped suddenly. Her phone was beeping. The same five dots where showing on the phone. 'Ichigo they're back!' they rush back to where they where just a few minutes before. Nothing.

'I can't believe this' Ichigo states mortified by the waste of his Saturday. He turns to Rukia who has just stopped walking and frozen. He noticed her eyes where wide, and she had a shocked expression on her face. Behind her were the five very large very mean-looking hollows. Ichigo immediately switched to battle mode drawing Zangetsu and attacking the hollows. However Rukia didn't move. She just stood there unaware while Ichigo fought the hollows behind her.

Rukia switched out of her daze after a couple minutes to find Ichigo gone from in front of her. She turned around and saw him bleeding and bruised on the ground.

'Ichigo! What happened?!' Rukia shouts running over to him.

'Are you serious? I just fought those five hollows!' Ichigo looks confused 'While you where standing right there!' He points to where she has been standing.

'Oh, I... I... I think I got lost in thought...' Rukia says trailing off.

'Ah okey' says Ichigo wonder what was going on. 'What was it then?'

'What was what?' said Rukia as she began to heal him using kidou.

'What was it that you where thinking about?' said Ichigo.

'Ah nothing, it doesn't matter, it's not a big deal…' said Rukia clearly avoiding his eye contact.

Ichigo knows that Rukia would never be distracted from a battle by anything small, but decides to leave it, knowing that her will to keep it hidden is most likely stronger than his will to get it out of her. He is right. Rukia shoves it out of her mind, not even admitting to herself what her thoughts where, let alone him.

They return home and Rukia jumps straight into the cupboard and closes it. Inside she puts her head into her hands and sits there in the corner.

Ichigo stared at the cupboard for a while wondering what she was doing in there.

_How cool it would be to have laser eyes? So I could see though stuff, I could see through the cupboard walls, what if I did and Rukia was changing.. _

He then gave himself a mental slap in the face for such perverted thinking. '_Oh my god, I'm turning into Keigo! _'He thought.

He walked out of the room heading downstairs to find something to eat. He noticed no one was home.

'Oi Rukia' he said walking back into the room.

'What' she said miserably

'Um, you wana have a bath then, looks like everyone's gone out.'

She slowly slid the door open and got out to have a bath. 'Thanks' she mumbled as Ichigo passed her a towel.

When she got inside the bathroom and closed the door she felt a huge relief, she was alone and could relax. She turned the knob up filling the small tub with hot water and climbed inside. She lay there for 40 minutes before coming to the conclusion that she shouldn't stay there to long as Ichigo's family might be home soon.

Meanwhile Ichigo was in the kitchen making something to eat. He heard her leave the bathroom and go into his room, then open and close the cupboard.

He walked upstairs with a plate of food and knocked on the cupboard door. No answer. He knocked again. No answer.

'Rukia I know you're in there' he said with a shrug opening the door slowly. When it was fully open he saw that she had fallen asleep. He left the plate next to her for when she woke up, grabbed her phone and closed the door. He put her phone on his table and began to cut through his homework.

In no time at all the phone began beeping, Ichigo quickly shut it up and went to fight the hollow, leaving Rukia to rest. On his arrival back he saw Rukia sitting on his bed looking exceptionally pissed off. He immediately turned to run but she knew he was there and grabbed him throwing him across the room.

Ichigo slammed head-first into the wall hitting his head on EXACTLY the same spot as earlier that day. 'Ouch' he said standing up only to be kicked...where it hurts...

Crumbling to the ground in immense pain he looked up to see Rukia's foot headed for his face, he would usually have taken the beating from her, but with earlier events and the incredibly cruel kick to his "important parts", he decided taking the beating wasn't going to help. He grabbed her foot yanking her down to the floor.

Rukia stood up quickly while Ichigo took his time, moving slowly as to avoid more pain to his abused region and looked straight at Rukia, who now stood a meter from him. He looked straight into her eyes… at seeing the way she was looking at him he quickly placed his hands in front of his "precious area" knowing full well that another attack to that part would mean death.

'Rukia' he says very unsure of what her reaction will be 'I'm sorry...'

'For what' Rukia blatantly replies.

'Um I'm not sure, would you like to tell me?' Ichigo found himself sweating profusely.

'I can't believe you STOLE my phone, and fought that hollow WITHOUT me!' Rukia's fuming.

'Oh' Ichigo stated, obviously relieved it isn't a big thing. 'I just thought you'd want to rest' Ichigo said glad everything was cleared up.

'You fool!' Rukia yells 'are you really that thick that you haven't noticed the increased strength of the hollows appearing!'

'Yes RUKIA! I HAVE noticed!' Ichigo yells back at her angered by her lack of confidence in him. 'But if I'm strong enough to take on 5 at once I can bloody-well handle one!'

Rukia remembered earlier that day that she had left him hanging when those 5 hollows appeared. She suddenly felt really guilty for it, and for attacking him now. 'I'm sorry.' She said very softly.

'Jesus Rukia, you could have caused some serious damage' he said removing his hands from his "sacred area". He suddenly leaned in very close to Rukia's face, closer and closer. Rukia froze unsure of what he was doing. He moved passed her face brushing his cheek against hers feeling its incredible softness. He then screamed into her ear "DON'T EVER KICK ME THERE AGAIN!'

Rukia couldn't help but giggle and apologise with a small smile on her face. Ichigo just sat down, slowly, with a sigh. He had to force his next thought out of his mind. For the first time that day he had a chance to sit and think about everything that had happened.

_First I was violently kicked out of bed, and even in pain I couldn't take my eyes off Rukia, I can't believe all this time I hadn't seen what her hair looked like first thing in the morning, turns out its quite wavy and rather attractive. No! Not thinking about that! Okey next we raced back and forth looking for those damn hollows, then when they attack Rukia just stands there, the entire time I was calling her but she didn't hear, its so weird, I really wonder what she was thinking about. Then she continues acting weird and gets angry when I let her rest, I cant imagine why she thought I took the phone, to get so angry like that. Damn I should have asked…Well I hope she goes back to normal now._

Rukia was sitting next to Ichigo on the bed having her own conversation with herself.

_Hehe, that was funny, I actually feel kinda bad now that I think about it, I heard that it's really hurts if a guy is kicked there. I have no idea why I jumped to the conclusion that Ichigo went without me because he didn't trust that id be of use in a battle. I'm not going to freeze again; it was just that one time, just because of… No! refusing to think of it! It was really sweet of him though, and what he made me to eat tasted really good. I have to start acting normal or the poor kid will drive himself crazy worrying about what's wrong with me. _

Rukia stands up 'well better get some homework done while there's time, what did we have for English?'

'Oh shit, we have that essay; ours are already 3 days late! We should get those done first!' Ichigo jumps to the chair at his desk ripping the relevant papers out of his bag.

'Yes fool, I know, that's why I asked, you know If mine wasn't late as well you would have gotten detention 3 days in a row now' Rukia said with a cheeky smile 'its only because of my amazing abilities to fake innocence that we are still passing without having any work handed in on time'

'Oh ya?' Ichigo said accepting her challenge 'well without me you wouldn't know what on earth to do for ANY of the projects given!' Ichigo said pleased with his response.

'Well if it wasn't for me you would have been killed a hundred times over! I can't count the number of times I've saved your skin from one of your stupid reckless attacks!' Rukia yells back

'Right now you'd be evaporated if I hadn't saved you.' Ichigo said, referring to when he saved her from Soul Society. Ichigo immediately felt a bit awkward and broke eye contact.

'You win' Rukia said and plonked herself down on his bed.

After hours of homework with the occasional hollow alert Ichigo is left on his bed reading their set work book "To Kill a Mockingbird" He looked to Rukia and saw her lying opposite him with a scowl on her face.

'Was it something I said?' Ichigo stated with an ambiguous look.

_End Flashback_

'Can I ask you a favour?' Rukia said calmly.

'Yes, what is it Rukia?' he said impatiently. Ichigo had heard her the first time she had asked; but he was busy thinking about what it could be that he forgot to reply. He could feel Rukia's reatsu increasing and becoming more and more unstable.

'I have an idea…' Rukia was cut off by a loud noise.

'ICHIGOOO!' Yells Isshin as he blasts through the door. Neither Ichigo nor Rukia had noticed him bolting up the stairs. 'Oh My!' exclaims Isshin as he sees Rukia sitting on Ichigo's bed. 'And who might you be?' he asked sending a pervy wink towards his son.

'I'm Kuchiki Rukia, Ichigo's girlfriend.' She said, her excellent poker face coming in handy.

'My boy!' Isshin shouted in ecstasy advancing to Ichigo who was looking up from his book eyes bulging out of his head. Before Ichigo had time to react he saw a hand coming towards his face, 'High Five!' exclaimed Isshin.

'Dad! Get out!' was all he could muster to say.

'Okey son I'll leave you two _alone_... hehe.. But later we need to have a man to man talk! Bwahahaha!' Isshin proceeded to wink at him again before Ichigo had had enough and physically kicked his father out of the room.

He waited until he was 100 sure his dad was downstairs before turning to Rukia.

'WHAT.THE.HELL!' he was furious 'why did you say that!?'

'Calm down Ichigo, just think about it! It works out well this way, I won't have to hide anymore, and it explains me being in your room at night.' She calmly explains while blushing a little. 'It's not a big deal, and will make things easier okey'

'Easier for who!?' Ichigo can't believe she did this. 'You really don't get it! Now I have to sit through my father giving me a TALK! A TALK Rukia! Knowing my father the entire world will know about it by tomorrow that means everyone at school will think... Will think…' Ichigo can't continue.

'Okey I may have overlooked that but it's too late now…'

Rukia had been about to bring up the possibility of saying she was his girlfriend to ease everyday living, but when the perfect moment had arisen so suddenly she just went for it.

Ichigo flopped down on his bed.' Okey so tomorrow we explain to everyone that it's just so my father … no that won't work! None of then know you live with me and it would just create more questions.'

'Will it really be that awful being my boyfriend, even if we are just pretending?' Rukia said trying desperately to hide the element of sadness in her voice. However Ichigo was well in tune with her and could tell she was upset.

'No! It's not that, it's just going to bring a lot of attention to us at school, that's all… its not that'

'Ah fine.'

The next day Rukia hopped out the window and waited around the corner of the street for Ichigo. When he had caught up to her they began to walk tom school. Ichigo gave a huge sigh and held out his hand to Rukia.

'Here.' He demanded.

She quickly complied and laid her hand into his feeling a heat spread across her face. His hand was firm and rough, but soft and comforting as well. Ichigo blushed brightly for the first 7 minutes until he managed to gain control of his facial pigment. He couldn't help feeling a bit light headed as he held Rukia's small soft hand.

The both walked in silence hand in hand to school until they came across Tatsuke and Inoue.

'Ohi…o' Yelled Inoue just as the couple come into sight.

Tatsuke and Inoue froze in shock, their mouths hanging open.

'Ohio' yells Rukia back vibrantly

'I think they've noticed' said Ichigo at seeing the girls in shock.

'Well here we go' Rukia says as they walk up to the girls.

…To Be Continued…

**Thank you for reading. If you could review and tell me if it's worth doing a 2****nd**** chapter I would appreciate it. **

**Hope you enjoyed. **

**xxx**


End file.
